Cooking up a summer tradition: Volunteers are key ingredient to St. Catherine's carnival's enduring success

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As a child, Phil Lodato chipped in where he could, stretching dough for pizza fritta, tagging along with his grandfather, Ross, as he made his rounds as chairman, and checking in with his dad, Mario, as he manned grills at St. Catherine of Siena Church's Carnival of Fun. It proved to be great training -- an education in how many hands make light work.

"As a kid, I'd help out here and there, but when I became an adult, I really started working and volunteering a lot more of my time," said Lodato, 32, who grew up in Greenwich. "Every August, for the last 10 years or so, the grill has been my home."

Lodato, who followed in his father's footsteps, typically works alongside another third-generation volunteer, his longtime friend Josh Scully, whose father Richard once worked alongside Mario.

"It gives you a great sense of community and family," Lodato, now of Stamford, said of the carnival, adding that his younger relatives, nieces and nephews, are coming to pay their uncle a visit.

This tradition in the Riverside section of Greenwich has brought food, rides, games, music and raffles for the past 52 years. It also has brought out thousands of volunteers, many of whom have been inspired by familial traditions, with each succeeding generation pledging time and talent to ensure the carnival, which opens this year on Tuesday, Aug. 12, is around for the next.

"We couldn't have a carnival without the volunteers," said the Rev. Monsignor Alan Detscher, who has been at the church for nearly 20 years. As a child, Detscher, who was born and raised in Greenwich, went to the carnival with his grandmother. "The people who work at the carnival are extremely dedicated."

There are few who know more about such a commitment than Fred Durante Jr., who has served as chairman for more than 15 years. He began volunteering in the game booths in the early 1970s, while still in high school, having been inspired by his parents, Fred Sr. and Rose.

"We'd spin a wheel, and for 25 cents you had a chance to win a different prize, such as a stuffed animal, bicycle or transistor radio," Durante said.

Each summer, he would pitch in, taking jobs as they came. As he got older, he began to learn the ropes from Ross Lodato, eventually taking over the co-chairman role with Mario Lodato. Most recently, Durante has solely helmed the endeavor, but he would be the first to tell you it is all about teamwork.

He offered as an example a significant challenge he encountered about 10 years ago -- the night the lights went out in the Northeast. For Durante, who had yet to know the magnitude of the 2003 blackout, it meant a call to Stewart Amusement, the Trumbull-based company that supplies the rides. Could its generators also run refrigeration for the food booths and provide lights for the site?

The answer was yes. "We wired that whole place off the generator," said Durante, who added that the light in an otherwise darkened landscape lured people right off I-95. "We had limousine drivers who were coming in because they saw the glow."

That night the carnival sold out of food and water. "To me, that was the biggest accomplishment. I remember saying, no matter what ... we are running it."

Not all evenings draw visitors from far and wide, but for Diane Chiappetta Fox, who is in her early 40s, it is as much a community event as a reunion of family and friends. Over the years, she has watched her grandparents, great-aunts and great-uncles, aunts, uncles, her parents (Miles "Buzzy" and Rosemarie Chiappetta), cousins and siblings take on posts -- selling raffle tickets, overseeing game booths, serving coffee, making blankets and crafts for the tea-cup raffle, creating posters and cooking -- as well as taken on many roles herself.

"It's really an awesome thing to be a part of," she said, adding that it has become a rite of passage -- a steady signal that summer is coming to an end.

The fact that the carnival has attracted enduring support from succeeding generations comes as little surprise to Fox's aunt, Vicki DeLuca, who was inspired by her parents, who did "everything for the church." For many years, DeLuca and her husband Jack have offered their time and talents, printing up posters, volunteering at booths and serving on the carnival committee.